Sourcing Pattern of National Security News in Indian Newspapers

The present study that seeks to explore the sourcing pattern followed by Indian newspaper reporters in their stories on national security issues is premised on the concept that sourcing patterns of mass media reflect the power structure that determines the normative media practices in a society. This reciprocity between media and the power structure is proved by research and indicated how it led to the lack of diversity of news sources, credibility of content and associated problems of organizational and official bias in news stories. Set as quantitative content analysis the study finds out the varying patterns in citing governmental, non-governmental and unspecified sources and in the distribution of factual, opinionated and framed contents in sourced news stories published in the major English and Malayalam newspapers in India. The study concludes that sourcing pattern followed by Indian media in the case of national security news serves as one of the five news filters identified by Herman and Chomsky in their Propaganda Model.

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